Suspended due to not being available for overtime

[Birksta86]

Hi all looking for abit of advice, i got suspended on wednesday for not being available for overtime. They are telling me i have agreed to doing reasonable amount of overtime. Yet they are not able to determine what a reasonable amount is.

 

I informed them i could not do it before shift started. They still put me on a route that would force me into overtime. I turned around with 4 drops left to do. I then started getting pushed into finishing it which i declined.

 

I then received emails with my contract and asking me again am i available for overtime. I replied with no and never got a reply, i walked in that night to a suspension i am due back tonight for the meeting. Due to the time there is no one available to accompany me, is there anything i am required to say before recording the interview on my phone.

 

Im not certain it even states what they are saying.... any advice would be grateful. I have tried to upload a screen grab but its not letting me on my phone.

 

Thanks

[honeybee13]

Hello and welcome to CAG.

 

It's quite late to get advice this evening, but hopefully people will turn up.

 

What does your contract say about overtime please? This will help us to advise. I gather that you're working for some kind of delivery service?

 

Best, HB

[Birksta86]

Hi thanks for the reply.

I do work in delivery through the night, my contract states i am to work 40 hours between 2 and 9.30. Additional hours maybe required when authorised and when business requires.

 

Regards

[sgtbush]

My contract says the same but they must give you adequate notice etc

[Sidewinder]

First question has to be 'how long have you been employed by this company'? That would have a major influence on what the employer could do with you for refusing to complete your deliveries. If the length of service is less than two years, the employer could use the flimsiest of reasons to just let you go

 

Further questions would be around the precise nature and wording of the contract. What is 'reasonable' would depend on a number of factors - and the notice given that overtime may be required is certainly one of them. How often in the past have you done overtime when requested? How much advance notice would be given normally? Is it the nature of the business that additional deliveries are involved at minimal notice? How agreeable are your colleagues to short-notice overtime? How much overtime would they do compared to you and importantly what sanctions have been applied to colleagues unable to do overtime on a particular occasion?

 

The suspension is probably more a reaction to the failure to make deliveries rather than being difficult over working extra hours, but your defence to any proposed disciplinary action would largely depend on answers to the questions above

[mariner51]

What type of delivery - local pizza etc or longer truck delivery?

Is delivery time-sensitive?

Would additional time cause you to exceed any Statutory hours?

[Birksta86]

I have been lending my hand to the company alot but its the 6 weeks holidays i work nights and i have kids to attend to.

So my previous workload should not guarantee that permanently. Im currently 17 month into my ft contract, with the route im on its a guarantee you are getting overtime. Your last drop is 2.5 hours away from depot thats if the motorway network is running smooth.

 

They have took on extra contracts that have us dropping on the way back in usually to busy town centers during opening hours. There is never notice for overtime its a case of overtime is almost a certain. Half of the time the company doesnt even know what its shipping until it comes off the plane. Weights are way off, 1kg packets are 350kg crates.

 

1 lifting aid between 4 vans. Its a shambles and its an accident waiting to happen.

 

Im currently still suspended ive heard nothing back. Ive requested certain things and got excuses as to how it would be hard for them to get the information.

 

As far as im aware the suspension was a cooling off period. There still isnt any official disciplinary in progress. Im actually confused as to whats happening.

[sangie5952]

Well. assuming that you are suspended with pay, they aren't likely to do nothing at all. And the suspension itself would hardly be a disincentive to anything if it is paid. But since you only have 17 months service, they wouldn't even need to go to a disciplinary (albeit I wouldn't recommend them not doing things properly). You can be dismissed for almost anything. If they know the reason for your refusal then that might give them pause for thought, but probably not a lot. What happened at the meeting you attended?

[Birksta86]

They asked me questions relating as to why i did not complete my run and also allegations have been made that i often bring my spouse with me on the job. This did happen once or twice last year on weekend overtime.

 

They are specifically asking questions regarding me announcing that i can not do overtime 4 hours before shift. This was done via an email they set up for the depot that i had access too. Now they have blocked me from accessing. Im waiting on a reply from the operations manager to confirm these email exchanges. The manager who interviewed me seen these emails But seems to not acknowledge them.

 

I said i would get back to them about overtime after seeking advice. There basically saying they cannot guarantee me a half 9 finish but also not stating what they consider to be reasonable overtime.

[Birksta86]

I might definately have the screenshots of the conversation or possibly not depending on if any cia agents are acting on behalf of the company.

[sangie5952]

Sorry, but I'd start looking for another job. This won't end happily. They can sack you just for refusing the overtime (or almost any other reason they want) but they are digging further to find more on you. The bottom line is that if you survive this, and I doubt you will, you won't survive much longer. The minute that they started investigations into other matters, that was the clincher that you are finished. And, to be honest, you handed it to them - bringing your husband on the job is a breach of a dozen laws, regulations, and rules. You cannot simply get family members to help you out - it's a health and safety and liability nightmare.

[Birksta86]

It wasn't a case of family members helping out it was a case of i barely got time with my partner and it was ok at the time as it suited them. I agreed to working a 12 hour shift on a sunday and permission was granted that my partner could accompany me. The plan was to get a meal and see some sights on the way back. Nothing was in writing it and it was a gentlemans agreement. Now that i cannot do the overtime it becomes an issue.

 

Because i have put my family first after putting them second for 17 month. Ive become a thorn in there side. Im already looking for a new job and i have told them that.

Im confused as to why im in a cooling off period on full pay with at the minute loss of contact.

 

Do they believe they have done wrong?. Do they even know what they are doing?. At the end of the day ive excersised my rights and it does not suit them. Ive got solid proof that the routing is an impossible task ive got recordings of them telling me im good at my job.

 

If they can let me go so easy why am i still sat in a cooling off with no discaplinary.

 

As much as im mad with them i dont want to screw them over. I bent over backwards and asked for my regular hours while the kids were off school.

I ended up suspended on full pay, they could of given me the route that finishes at half 9. But they choose this way.

Edited August 11, 2017 by Birksta86

[sangie5952]

As I said though, until you have two years service you have almost no employment rights anyway; and I am sorry, but this whole "cooling off" period makes no sense whatsoever. Employers do not pay people to sit at home unless they are investigating them for misconduct. They do not interview them about their conduct unless they are investigating them for misconduct. And I am gobsmacked that any employer with an ounce of intelligence would permit someone who is not an employee to accompany a delivery driver on any occasion, never mind multiple occasions. I can't tell you what their rationale is, because it makes no sense. But I would rarely see what you are describing and consider it to bode well.

[ericsbrother]

got to agree, if they pay you whilst you are suspended as they are obliged to then you gte an easier lif until thye get round to making a decision. In the meanwhile find another job. The field you work in is notorious for its poor practices and that is putting it mildly

[Birksta86]

Just to update i am still suspended i have been paid minus a deduction for an apparent accident i was involved in.

 

I have never been in an accident whilst at that company. I did however pick up a hire van that i now find is in my name.

[ericsbrother]

Then you will need to determine whetehr you ahve any liability because you picked it up. Copies of the paperwork you signed at the time is half of this, the other half is your employment contract.

[sangie5952]

Then you will need to determine whetehr you ahve any liability because you picked it up. Copies of the paperwork you signed at the time is half of this, the other half is your employment contract.

 

And that said, the main fact here is that it is a month later and you are still suspended. Whatever this is about, it is not about refusing to work a couple of hours overtime. No employer pays someone to not work for a month over two hours overtime they refused. It makes no logical sense.